You are not logged in. Please register or login.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
- Intercourse
- Rep: 212
Re: Curtain Call for the Old Guns '96
Speaking of Paul, did he not run into the same shit with Tommy in the early days of "NuGNR"?
i.e. Tommy thought he was a rank amateur or was that Robin?
- FlashFlood
- Rep: 55
Re: Curtain Call for the Old Guns '96
I get the whole Axl/Paul thing but if you're Paul why would you put yourself in that situation?
A) The band doesn't like you
B) You can't play
Sure there's the money, but still...doesn't seem he was ever motivated by that. I can't imagine he was very comfortable. And never mind Slash, but I'm sure it was a similar situation with the guitarists and rhythm sections brought in after the fact. Paul's involvement with GnR is more fascinating to me than just about every post-Illusions member.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Curtain Call for the Old Guns '96
My guess is Axl talked him into it.
Axl is a charismatic guy, very musically gifted, can you imagine what 1 on 1 jam sessions would be like? Probably a lot of fun. You know when you learn and instrument and you dick around with tunes and riffs and stuff with your mates - they're doing that together - except one of the people has Axl's melodies and voice and general songcraft mojo.
So they write together just casually and it's just awesome fun for both of them.
For paul he's playing with a rockstar, for Axl - well - the band politics had made writing together stressful for a long while. There's all the band drama and dynamics and burthurt from all sides in the way. But with Paul its just flowing easy and fun and there's no drama...for the first time in ages stuff is just getting done like it used to - and if you're Axl that's probably very heartening...it's probably quite motivating...now you believe in yourself again and you know you can write a new record again....
My guess would be Paul had doubts but Axl was full of inspiration and ambition and made it sound possible. Don't forget when things are going well for Axl he's full of big plans - he talked of making GNR films back in the day, his plans of 3 albums in the CD era...so the guy is hanging out with Axl and Axl is talking up great things they might do together after a few successful jam session....why not agree?
Also - even Axl's friends lovingly say that you do things Axl's way and you don't disagree....so I'd assume Paul was swept along for the ride.
Re: Curtain Call for the Old Guns '96
Axl wanted people around him who he could trust, who supported his vision, and wouldn't put him down during a volatile period of his life.
A lot of artists like comfort and control. People will judge him negatively because he's Axl but that's how it is.
Water's wet.
Re: Curtain Call for the Old Guns '96
Axl basically thought Paul would be Izzy 2.0 - Same background, same Indiana friendship, same circle of friends, less hassle. He also had a more "90s" guitar style than Izzy, which fits what Axl wanted from GN'R. This track dates from around the mid 1990s and the only guitarist on it is Paul, which should give an idea to what Paul's playing would've sounded like in a rock context:
It's not that dissimilar in style from Dave Navarro - who Axl wanted to replace Izzy, ironically. Axl's "vision" seems consistent in one aspect - he wanted an alternative rock styled player to play off Slash, whether that be Dave Navarro or Paul.
Re: Curtain Call for the Old Guns '96
Yup,
Big on Jane's Addiction and wanting to reinvent Guns as more alt rock, while maintaining the nucleus of Slash and Duff to preserve the hallmark Guns sound. Two big issues. The way Paul was shoehorned into Sympathy and later, the rehearsals. Slash could've seen the upside of it, had Axl sat him down with Paul before anything else and said, 'I'm gonna write with this guy, see what he's got'.
Slash belittled Axl's obsession to the mainstream musical climate and he certainly objected another guitar player to be smuggled in behind his back. The bottom line on Paul is, he got into the band (as it was at the time) on the wrong foot, for reasons beyond himself. Curiously, by the time he'd finally play live with Axl, the surrounding band would be all but completely different. He'd be a great interviewee in a CD book or something, as he'd have perspective ranging from '94 to '02.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Curtain Call for the Old Guns '96
Part of the problem though is that Axl didn't seem to recognise the role of Izzy's replacement as a rhythm guy.
He had Paul do leads on Sympathy for the Devil - wasn't like he came in and over dubbed the Rhythm parts.
Likewise his other choice to add to the band - Zakk Wylde....not exactly known as a rhythm guitarist.
It's not hard to see why Slash felt disrespected. The people brought in were actively threatening his role within the group.
- Intercourse
- Rep: 212
Re: Curtain Call for the Old Guns '96
GNR were in an almost identical position to U2 after they released Rattle and Hum; turned on by the media, described as rock dinosaurs, behind the musical zeitgeist, arrogant, over blown and out of touch.
U2 had a very rough beginning to their Acthung Baby sessions culminating in Edge giving Bono a punch, but "One" materialized after much work together and gave the band the sonic imprint they were looking for. They were off to the races after that, the music came thick and fast.
U2 did have a rule however that the band stays together no matter what, but they knew they had to change and stayed at it until they did.
Axl always said that Slash wouldn't change and update, but we know he had it in him. If he'd shown up with Contraband in 1993, Axl could have made a stunning hard rock comeback album that would have seated them at the head of the modern rock movement of the time. But how far off that kind of sound was Slash in 1993? Did it take him falling all the way back to bar band status with his solo work before he would listen...this time to Scott Weiland (who spoke of rejecting what he thought was horrible music that sounded like Cheap Trick). Slash then wrote more modern style riffs which subsequently brought him in. I know this was 2003, 10 years after GNR ended for Slash but its not like Slash wasn't listening to AIC and others that he publically stated his admiration for.
Interestingly, its pretty obvious Izzy wasn't too keen to change things up too much either (his material is consistently good but sonically quite safe, even forgettable).. where would that have left the original line up if they had managed to survive the UYIs as a unit?
Matt and Duff seemed to understand the need for change but they were either too quiet or too far down the pecking order to help drive Axl & Slash into a new direction together.
With all of this you can see why Axl was doing what he was doing but you'd wonder if he just got in a room with these guys and worked hard instead of just trying to replace people, could they have had their eureka moment like U2 did with One and come back together better than ever?
- Intercourse
- Rep: 212
